Infant death — proper resolution of grief important

Press, 7 April 1987, Page 23

Infant death — proper resolution of grief important

Cosmo lived only a few hours after her birth; she died in the arms of her mother, Tess. Under the guidance of Dr Peter Barr, Tess and her family undergo an unusual counselling process where they are encouraged to create more memories of Cosmo’s short life, by spending time seeing, holding and touching their dead baby. “Some Babies Die — An Exploration of Still Birth and Neo-Natal Death” concerns Tess Tracy and her family, the Children’s Hospital in Camperdown, Australia, and the counselling and support necessary for families who experience infant death. It is a documentary which will stir the emotions, and leave some viewers drained, but it tackles with sensitivity and warmth a subject that society would rather pre-

tend did not exist — death. It is not an easy documentary to watch. Dr Peter Barr (who has himself suffered the loss of two babies) leads a

team dedicated to the belief that the usual procedure of taking a baby out of the parents’ sight immediately after death is wrong and that part of the natural process is to allow the family to see and touch the dead infant

Dr Barr provides the narrative of the documentary which also features a women’s support group set up to resolve grief after the death of a baby, and a couple who have had three stillborn sons in as many years. There is a brief foreword by Elizabeth Kubler-Ross who comments on attitudes to death.

The producer-director, Martyn Down, has a number of films to his credit “Some Babies Die” won a Red Ribbon award at the American Film Festival. It was also voted Best Documentary at the 1986 Australian Film Institute Awards.

Commenting on the

documentary, the Daily Telegraph reported, “Tess’s experience and Cosmo’s brief life tap a spring of emotion that will leave one grieving and yet rejoicing that death, properly mourned, can be a

strengthening process in one’s life.” When “Some Babies Die” was screened in Australia in March, 1986, it created such a response that it was repeated within six months. The

viewer correspondence it generated was 95 per cent in favour, despite the emotional reactions involved. "Some Babies Die” screens on One tonight at 9.